Reason Number 7342 To Stick With XP Pro

It was recently discovered that the spell checker in all versions of Vista and Server 2008 was “correcting” writers of words which were actually being spelled correctly. On Friday, July 11, 2008, The Register published an article about this important bug. Full details may be found at the Microsoft Help and Support page for the remedy to this urgent problem and a possible workaround. The words?

• Friendster
• Klum
• Nazr
• Obama
• Racicot

That’s it. Five words. They must have given as much concern to these five words as was given to “the seven words you can’t say on TV” a number of years ago. Why do I write of the apparent immediate need to correct these five words? The correction is a 56.4 MB download. Still another reason for sticking with XP Pro.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window.” - Steve Wozniak

US Government Protects Us From Terrorists In Dresses!

You people know I just can’t pass up a chance like this to sing the praises of our government agencies’ efforts to protect us from terrorism. Furthermore, simply tie this article and the privacy and security of Electronic Health Records together and think about it. The following is the text and links directly from the June 18 article in Boing Boing:

“US seizes Danish dress-shop's payment to Pakistan in the name of "terrorism"

Posted: 18 Jun 2008 05:23 AM CDT

Carsten sez, "The owner of a small dress shop in Maribo, Denmark, orders six dresses in Pakistan for a value of $205 and pays by bank transfer - only to find that the transfer is intercepted by the US authorities and the money seized because the seller (fashio.biz) might conceivably support 'terrorism'."

"Christa Møllgaard-Hansen, owner of Christabella's in the town of Maribo on Lolland, routinely buys women's clothing and shoes from around the world to resell in Denmark. But a recent purchase of six dresses from Pakistan for $205 was considered by the American authorities to be money going to support terrorists.

The US froze the funds four months ago and contacted Møllgaard-Hansen's bank, saying they wanted more information on the payment's recipient. Møllgaard-Hansen had put all the necessary information into the original netbank payment, but complied with her bank's request for the additional information."

Link (Thanks, Carsten!)”

No doubt the FBI, NSA, CIA, or “Somebody Else” decided to snoop around a little bit longer while the Patriot Act is still mostly in effect and the FISA Act has yet to be officially modified. You know, I don’t even feel a need to contact my state’s senator, Obama (D IL) because he will quite likely already be on the case. If not, one of the above agencies will intercept this transmission of information, or buy it from one of the large telecoms or search databases. One way or another, I’m sure they’ll know my sentiments on the matter.

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

“On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.” - Will Rogers

Today in a speech to a hopeful nation ...

Scientific integrity cannot flourish in an environment of suppression and politically skewed reporting.

George "The Walker" Bush

Issued a proctomation;

"Everything is fine!"

Peace, Doc

Copyright © 2008, Thomas A. Blood, Ph.D.

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." - George W. Bush

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” - Joseph Goebbels